Euro Disney Failure
Appendix 4.6 (Americanization of European Culture? Case Study: Disney in France)
Until 1992, the Walt Disney Company had experienced nothing but success in the theme park business. Its first park, Disneyland, opened in
Anaheim, California, in 1955. Its theme song, "It's a
Small World After All," promoted "an idealized vision of America spiced with reassuring glimpses of exotic cultures all calculated to promote heartwarming feelings about living together as one happy family. There were dark tunnels and bumpy rides to scare the children a little but none of the terrors of the real world....” The Anaheim park was an instant success.”
In the 1970s, the triumph was repeated in Florida
(DisneyWorld), and in 1983, Disney proved the
Japanese also have an affinity for Mickey Mouse with the successful opening of Tokyo Disneyland.
Having won over the Japanese, Disney executives in
1986 turned their attention to France and, more specifically, to Paris, the self-proclaimed capital of
European high culture. France beat out more than
200 bidders from all over the world who tried to attract Disney to their countries. But Paris was chosen because of demographics and subsidies.
About 17 million Europeans live less than a two-hour drive from Paris. Another 310 million can fly there in the same time or less. Also, the French government offered the company more than $1 billion in various incentives, in the expectation that the project would create 30,000 French jobs.
Cultural Mistakes
From the beginning, it was clear that there would be conflict between the American theme park and the culturally proud French people. Intellectuals in Paris attacked the transplantation of Disney's dreamworld as an assault on French culture. They called it the “new beachhead of American imperialism” and a
“terrifying step toward world homogenization.” The Minister of Culture boycotted the opening, proclaiming it to be an unwelcome symbol of American clichés and a
Until 1992, the Walt Disney Company had experienced nothing but success in the theme park business. Its first park, Disneyland, opened in
Anaheim, California, in 1955. Its theme song, "It's a
Small World After All," promoted "an idealized vision of America spiced with reassuring glimpses of exotic cultures all calculated to promote heartwarming feelings about living together as one happy family. There were dark tunnels and bumpy rides to scare the children a little but none of the terrors of the real world....” The Anaheim park was an instant success.”
In the 1970s, the triumph was repeated in Florida
(DisneyWorld), and in 1983, Disney proved the
Japanese also have an affinity for Mickey Mouse with the successful opening of Tokyo Disneyland.
Having won over the Japanese, Disney executives in
1986 turned their attention to France and, more specifically, to Paris, the self-proclaimed capital of
European high culture. France beat out more than
200 bidders from all over the world who tried to attract Disney to their countries. But Paris was chosen because of demographics and subsidies.
About 17 million Europeans live less than a two-hour drive from Paris. Another 310 million can fly there in the same time or less. Also, the French government offered the company more than $1 billion in various incentives, in the expectation that the project would create 30,000 French jobs.
Cultural Mistakes
From the beginning, it was clear that there would be conflict between the American theme park and the culturally proud French people. Intellectuals in Paris attacked the transplantation of Disney's dreamworld as an assault on French culture. They called it the “new beachhead of American imperialism” and a
“terrifying step toward world homogenization.” The Minister of Culture boycotted the opening, proclaiming it to be an unwelcome symbol of American clichés and a